CHARLIE [returning with beers]: You know what Doc Crane said about Mom’s over-eatin’.

CORNELIUS: Told her to quit or accept the consequences, such as— lookin’ like a side-show exhibit.

CHARLIE: You want a beer, Mr. Sykes?

CORNELIUS: He wants it opened first, Charlie.

CHARLIE: Opener’s in the kitchen. I’ll go git it.

CORNELIUS: Yais, that’s a brilliant idea . . .

CHARLIE: Mom, got a bottle opener in there?

[Bella comes huffing back again as Charlie enters kitchen door.]

BELLA [from offstage]: Bottle opener? Yeah, yeah. [A crash is heard from kitchen.]

CHARLIE: Watch it. Didja hurt yourself, Mom?

BELLA: Bottle opener?

CHARLIE: ’Sall right, Mom. I got it.

BELLA: Charlie, don’t eat both bottles.

CHARLIE: They’re for Mr. Sykes, Mom.

BELLA: Good, good. Glad to hear that!

CORNELIUS: Eat! Bottles! Jesus!

CHARLIE: Doc Crane says she eats because of anxiety feelings.

CORNELIUS: Anxiety over what there is to eat next?

CHARLIE: Mom was thin an’ beautiful in her weddin’ picture, and I bet that she ate light till she discovered your secret attitude toward us all was total indifference—if not worse.

EMERSON [overlapping and rising]: I think I better—

CHARLIE [overlapping]: Disappointment, anxiety an’ depression is what makes her stuff.

EMERSON [overlapping]: Leave you all till this family dispute is—

STACEY: Charlie?

[They all turn to observe her for the first time on the landing. Emerson Sykes shakes his head and slips out the front door.]

CHARLIE [With nervous heartiness]: Come on down here, Stacey.

STACEY: My clo’se are still drenched.

CHARLIE: We walked here from the bus station in the rain.

STACEY: Wasn’t a cab at the depot. Lent my raincoat to a friend who left town with it, ha ha!

CHARLIE: I’ll light the gas-logs in the fireplace.

STACEY: Good, good. I’d appreciate that. [She hitches up her skirt on the landing to adjust her pantyhose.]

CORNELIUS: Tell her not to come down till she’s completed dressing.

STACEY: My pantyhose just don’t fit right.

CORNELIUS: Jesus.

STACEY: I never did like these things, preferred to wear regular garters but they’re hard to get now, seen to’ve gone out of style.

CORNELIUS: What’s she tawkin’ about?

STACEY: Awright, got it fixed now.

[She comes downstairs, her face beaming nervously.]

CHARLIE: This is Stacey, Pop.

STACEY: Hi, Pop.

CORNELIUS: Excuse me for not gettin’ up.

CHARLIE: Pop’s got arthritis, Stacey.

STACEY: That’s all right. My Granddaddy’s got that, too. I know all about that.

BELLA: Here’s eggs. [Bella enters the living room with a tray bearing a moist and frowsy-looking omelet.]

CHARLIE: Mom, this is Stacey.

BELLA [To Stacey]: Why, how d’you do. [Noticing her stomach.] How d’ you do. I thought you all might be hungry so I—

CORNELIUS: My wife thinks everyone’s hungry.

STACEY: Well, I happen to be. —Hello, Mom.

BELLA: Hello. What’s your name, honey?